July 24, 2023
Tammy Hall, Medical Device Reprocessing (MDR) team leader at Rocky Mountain House Health Centre, left, and Joyce Ritchie, Rocky Health Foundation member and previous acute care/ER manager, are all smiles as they roll up their sleeves to decorate Tim Hortons’ “smile cookies” to raise money for new operating room equipment at the hospital. Photo by Jessica Moncrieff.
Story by Jonathan Koch | Photo by Jessica Moncrieff
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE — Smiles graced the cookies and the faces of Alberta Health Services’ staff as they helped raise more than $15,500 towards new operating room equipment at Rocky Mountain House Health Centre.
Both health professionals and administrative staff volunteered for this year’s Tim Hortons “Smile Cookies” fundraising event, a part of the Rocky Health Foundation’s campaign to contribute up to $750,000 toward the new OR, now under construction.
Jessica Moncrieff, Site Lead, joined her daughter, friends and colleagues as they decorated, baked and boxed cookies at Tim Hortons locations around town in early May.
“We had a couple of our admin people here that I worked right alongside. As well, one of the acute care nurses came along, one of our Medical Device Reprocessing (MDR) staff came, and one of the nurses also came,” says Moncrieff.
“Our foundation partners donated an incredible amount of time. Two of these individuals are actually our previous acute care manager and previous site manager, who donated a lot of additional hours to help with the campaign. It was really incredible.”
Community volunteers included town councilors, foundation and local Health Professions Engagement Team members, community peace officers. First responders also participated in this year’s event, which raised over $15,500 towards OR equipment costs.
According to Dale Shippelt, town councillor and Foundation treasurer, both Tim Hortons locations sold every cookie, leading to an increase in revenue of more than $5,000 over the last year’s campaign.
Describing this year’s community support as “overwhelming”, Shippelt adds: “It's humbling to see people buying cookies. It was like we couldn't bake cookies fast enough to keep up with the demand. It's just amazing how many cookies you can sell in a small town.”
Moncrieff says words hardly seem adequate to express the depth of her gratitude to volunteers and the community.
“I think ‘thank you’ is never enough. It was amazing support from everyone.
“For Tim Hortons, just to select our foundation as their charity of choice, I think is incredible. With the community coming out — and the sheer volume of what they purchased — speaks volumes about what they value.”
